Some points in the physiological and medical aspect of sewage irrigation : the second edition of a paper read at the Social Science Congress, at Bristol, Oct. 2, 1869, with notes upon the recent evidence adduced against irrigation in the Houses of Parliament, &c. : to which is also appended, a paper on the influence of sewer gas on the public health / by Alfred Carpenter.

  • Carpenter, Alfred, 1825-
Date:
1870
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Some points in the physiological and medical aspect of sewage irrigation : the second edition of a paper read at the Social Science Congress, at Bristol, Oct. 2, 1869, with notes upon the recent evidence adduced against irrigation in the Houses of Parliament, &c. : to which is also appended, a paper on the influence of sewer gas on the public health / by Alfred Carpenter. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    27/70 (page 27)
    The appearance of a Held of lye-grass, under irrigation with sewage, is a perfect picture of efficiency ; the ground is covered with an inextricable tangle of rootlets, the extremities of which seem to meet the sewage, and act- ino- upon it, both mechanically as well as chemically, as a filter, take out everything required for their own use, and as the water passes from the field, especially after a second application, to another portion of land, the quantity of or- ganic material in the water is absolutely less in quantity than when it was supplied to the inhabitants as potable ■\vater—[vide Keport of Commissioners on Water Supply.] (1) one case, and of fi'esh excreta in another, which leads to siich various residts and opinions. I take it as a sine qua non of sanitary science, that sewage must be rapidly conveyed away, and applied fresh to vegetation, to render it profitable for irrigation, or safe for the inhabitants of the neighbourhood. It is imfair to compare results obtained from the application of putrefying sewage, and the sanitary conditions of a farm to which putrefying sewage is applied, with any other particular system; and therefore any town in which there is not an abun- dant supply of water, and in which much of the human excreta is first deposited in cesspools or middens, and then sent into the sewers, is not a fair example from which the results of sewage irrigation are to be sought. {I) The report states (Note 202) that the attention of the Commissioners was called to the condition of the Wandle, and they instructed Mr. Pole to examine the efiiuent waters after they had passed fiom the land. They abstract from Mr. Pole's report the following item, the whole report itself being in the appendix. Mr. Pole says, When I saw the system at work on May 11th, although the sewage was foul and dirty when it went on the land, the water running off' was quite bright and clear, without any appearance of foul deposit in the channel. I noticed several fine trout in the river near the point of dis- charge, as well as in other places farther down. It is worthy of remark, that the plan here adopted of allowing the sewage to travel slowly over the land, in constant agitation, among the blades and stalks of vegetation, appears to me pecidiarly favourable for the oxidation of the impurities by the action of the atmosphere, which, I have no doubt, powerfully aids the purifying action by vegetable absorption.